The Rome Board of Education is continuing the process of finding a replacement for Gayland Cooper, superintendent of Rome City Schools.

The board is scheduled to meet Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the boardroom located on East Second Street to discuss the protocol and guidelines for their search.

Cooper will retire at the end of this calendar year.

Jim Puckett of the Georgia School Boards Association will be present to discuss with board members the process though which they can select a superintendent by Nov. 30.

As Cooper’s imminent retirement is fast approaching, board members will need to name a new superintendent by that date, he said.

The decision will largely fall into the board members’ hands. However, the GSBA has done the legwork as far as gathering the applicants that fell into the board’s preferred criteria.

“It’s an update and an informational meeting on where the GSBA is on their search,” Cooper said of Thursday’s meeting.

The Floyd County Board of Education has narrowed its search for a candidate to replace Superintendent Lynn Plunkett.

The county school board will

have a special called meeting at 8:30 a.m. Monday to make its final decision public.

The two candidates are Jeff McDaniel, chief of academics in the

Floyd County system, and Jeff Bearden, who will resign as superintendent of the Fayette County schools at the end of December.